The Best Woman
by ElegantPaws
Summary: Sometimes, a simple wedding invitation does change lives. Sesshoumaru/Kagome. Series of three one shots: The Best Woman;Gentleman of Honour;Honeyed Moon.


**DISCLAIMER** - The ownership and general brilliance that is the original Feudal Fairy Tale remains the property of its honored and rightfully revered creator **Rumiko Takahashi** without whose brilliance, we would not have fodder.

**The Best Woman**

Reviews are fuel.

By: _**ElegantPaws**_

Edited by: _**MinervaOne**_

The crumpled wedding invitation lay on the bar. Kagome eyed it sadly.

"Always the bridesmaid and never the bride," she thought ruefully, downing the last of the contents of the champagne glass.

"Open another," she said to the bar man who looked surreptitiously at her get-up and smiled lasciviously. She was hot. He might just get lucky this evening. Obviously, the guy was an idiot.

"Coming right up sexy lady," he drawled.

Kagome managed a saucy smile - the same killer smile she had employed all afternoon without fail. At least someone other than Houjo thought she was attractive. It was true that nice guys and for that matter girls - did finish last. It would not hurt to flirt. At least it would pass the time; nothing would come of it.

"Naughty," she waggled a playful finger at the leering barkeep. Anyway his brows met in the middle, further spoiling an otherwise forgettable face.

She had decided to dress the part, and even let Miroku choose her tails, cravat and stilettos – which were currently pinching her feet. The man was such a perv. The broad- brimmed hat sloped over one eye. "For mystery," Miroku had said then, giving in to his obsession with 1940's movie heroines. All that remained in view of her delicate features were soft, pink lips.

Kagome sighed. She couldn't win.

It had never been her intent to upstage the bride, but Kikyou was less than pleased when she saw her standing next to Inuyasha. Why had Kagome listened to Miroku, exactly? Then again, they all had been six sheets to the wind when the decision of wardrobe had been made. It had seemed such a great idea at the time.

She chuckled morosely to herself while propping up her chin on a delicate wrist. Her eyes lazily followed the barkeeper with a slight pout - one pink nails tip tapping the stemware rhythmically as she awaited her refill. It seemed to her he was stalling since he kept looking toward the door nervously.

"Anytime today would be great, barkeep," the petite woman drawled as the bartender passed her once again. She just needed to get through the next few hours unscathed and without Miroku and Sango's perpetual hovering to make sure she was holding up.

She had to get back in there before further raising the ire of Kikyou, or for that matter the equally watchful gaze of Mister Clean himself. Who knew the uptight, white obsessed bastard would actually attend? What bothered Kagome most was how thrilled Inuyasha was even though he tried to hide it with false bravado.

They should be half way through the first dance by now so she still had some time to lick long repressed wounds. It was obvious in his golden eyes that Inuyasha loved her. There were times Kagome really wondered if anyone could really love her with that level of intensity. Well, anyone other than poor, sappy Houjo that is. She really must see about finding him a girlfriend. There was that young woman in Kikyou's pottery class that he had taken a shine to.

The door to the reception's private bar opened, the sound of music and laughter penetrating the muted silence. Kagome's eyes travelled to the door in annoyance. She just needed a few more minutes of peace alone to gird herself for endless prattle and the inevitable unwanted dances to come with Houjo.

A tall, lean form bedecked in white stood in the shaft of light.

"Oh look, the Man from Glad."

She swiveled back to the bar as her glass was refilled. Funny, but there was that twitchy look again as the bartender suddenly, and rather nervously, made himself scarce as if on cue. Apparently, he had forgotten a case of wine downstairs and it needed his immediate attention.

"It's a gift," Kagome said as she delicately sipped the chilled liquid, giggling girlishly as the bubbles tickled her nose.

"What gift would that be, Kagome?"

There was that voice again. Its deep resonance always had a liquefying effect on her spine - particularly at close quarters.

"Why the ability to clear a room in five seconds, of course, my dear Sesshoumaru." Kagome answered somewhat slurred.

It was then she noticed a second flute had been placed next to the bucket of ice. Not only had his brows met but he was fast too.

"Interesting attire to say the least. How very modern of you, Kagome."

She slowly turned and looked over the elder Taishou brother. With a lazy smirk she inspected his attire. He was of course, resplendent as always and not in white - but cream. Hmmm, then again it was past Labor Day and white was no longer the new black.

"Soooooooo not a place you should go, Mister Obsessive Compulsive," she retorted sweetly. "If you are sitting, then sit."

The smirk disappeared when their eyes met. She turned away abruptly and adjusted her own lapels defensively, reaching for the magnum to pour.

A surprisingly warm hand covered her own, causing her to look directly at him in anger.

"I think you have had enough. We don't want you making a spectacle of yourself."

Though she wanted to recoil at the sudden contact, Kagome carefully and slowly slid her hand from beneath his and inhaled slowly, getting her emotions under control. It would be soooooo easy to strike out at her boss of many years.

Raising a single digit, she spoke.

"First, with all due respect, you don't get to decide when I've had enough. I am quite capable of holding my booze as you well know. I would equally thank you in future to keep your grubby paws off my person," she said with a glacial smile.

"Hmmm," Sesshoumaru murmured as he inspected his fingers with furrowed brows, somewhat perplexed at her accusation.

Kagome chuckled despite the ridiculousness of the situation. He could be so guileless at times, and suddenly she felt the heel.

"Oh dear god Sesshoumaru, it's a metaphor. Of course, you aren't grubby. Heaven forbid that a single speck of dust should ever dare to accost so noble a youkai lord and the CEO of the most successful fashion magazine in the Western World. Please, just don't touch me."

She sighed, feeling the need to explain further. "I'm feeling rather delicate right now and doing my best to stand by your brother. I do love him and want him to be happy."

Sesshoumaru's eyes slid off her face, his jaw growing rigid as clawed fingers dug into the wood of the bar.

"Remove that ridiculous contraption on your head - it is an affront to the senses. The wolf should have committed seppuku for even coming up with the design … and only a fool would purchase it," he added maliciously.

"Well, excuse me the fuck for living. Have you any idea what this 'contraption' costs retail? I have had several compliments on it today, so there. I intend to thank Kouga profusely for allowing me to be the one to make its debut," Kagome retorted, turning toward the tall being seated on the stool next to her. Even to her mind she sounded a smidge childish and petulant.

He did nothing more than sit with his spine erect looking through her with those enigmatic jewel-toned eyes as she poured and ignored his request.

This always happened when they were alone together - this indescribable tension - born of nothing. Kagome felt an instant chill. He was in obnoxious mode. She rather enjoyed the fact that he could not fully see her eyes and had no intentions of giving into his current whim.

Sesshoumaru had been more obstreperous than usual in the last week. It was so rare for her to ask for time off and Kagome wondered why she had bothered. More than once she had to pry her long suffering assistant of the ceiling in tears.

She hadn't gotten home until three this morning, so in reality two hours sleep probably accounted for her current mood. Inuyasha had infinite faith in her and with rings at the ready, she did not disappoint.

"Remove that offensive frippery or I will!" was the thunderous, seemingly irrational command through gritted teeth.

It was one thing as an award winning Art Director to accept when he chose to change her covers on a whim, it was quite another to take the same liberties with her person.

"Don't start with me today, my Lord!"

The hat became a frisbee as it sailed over the bar's counter hat pin in tow. Instinctively Kagome reached for her scalp while her foot connected with his shin reflexively and rather satisfyingly.

"Ouch! You could've stabbed me, you know?"

"Highly unlikely. You remain overly dramatic, Kagome, and I would thank you in future to keep your foot to yourself. Who knows where it has been."

"I know where I'd like to put it right about now!"

She continued to rub the offending spot on her scalp as she released her hair from its chignon, checking for damage. Onyx tresses flowed down her shoulders like a dark, silk waterfall. Sesshoumaru was enraptured by its gloss even in the somber lighting over the bar.

Kagome had seen him in action on more than one occasion and should have anticipated his retaliation for her perceived impudence. Though cloaked in civility and a quiet, icy calm this being was anything but. There was nothing even vaguely passive in his aggression when pissed - as poor Houjo had found to his detriment. He had mad the simple mistake of bringing by an impromptu dinner for two while she worked late one evening.

Her brows furrowed while picking up the stemmed glass. Houjo had walked with a limp for a week after that incident. Why did she continue to work for him? It wasn't as if she couldn't get another gig.

"Let's drink to their long and happy union," Kagome said as she raised her glass, deciding to dismiss the empty feeling within at the prospect of leaving the magazine.

Sesshoumaru slowly raised his own flute, the delicate ping reverberating through the air.

"Let us drink to the obvious, Kagome."

She smiled at her own somewhat malicious thoughts. Her scalp did still sting after all, and her tongue had loosened considerably under the influence of the bubbly. Her edit mode had taken leave.

"That you are a huge closet case and an obsessive clean freak?" Kagome added brightly and very unadvisedly.

The sound of shattering stemware went unheeded by the revelers in the ballroom, Kagome noted absently as she was pinned to the bar. Right now however, she was a tad preoccupied by firm, decidedly masculine, and somewhat delicious lips that covered hers possessively and insistently in a breathless kiss.

Kagome sighed when he allowed her air. She looked up into hooded – and dare she think it – amused pale amber.

"You were saying, Higurashi?" he added lazily, eying her lips as long strong fingers brushed her reddened cheeks, cupping her face delicately.

The hard body beneath the well-cut suit currently pressed suggestively into hers and left no doubt whatsoever about his proclivities or size for that matter. Kagome shivered and adjusted her hair. She needed to do something with her hands; he smelled far too damn good and she was a little tipsy and his brows didn't meet.

"Yes, well…I think as Best Woman I should get back to the proceedings. We will be missed soon. It's your brother's wedding day and I think I am to give a toast or something like that," Kagome stuttered with embarrassment, refusing to meet knowing amber eyes.

"Hmmm…still coherent, most unacceptable," he murmured, lowering his head intent on exploring her succulent mouth.

He would not stand for further interruptions. The woman had a propensity for verbal diarrhea, particularly in emotionally charged situations such as this. His brother's loss was to be his gain at long last. She was after all, the Best Woman.

**Author's Note:**

Hehehe, my first and only one shot! Let me know, if you enjoyed. Its sequel is titled - **A Gentleman of Honor**

Namaste

**EP**


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